The present invention relates to database management systems and methods, and more particularly, to a system and method for linking and displaying information records in an engineering database.
In some highly complex industrial endeavors, particularly where safety is a major concern, the designers and operators of such facilities have a need to establish and maintain current records of the design bases for the myriad systems and subsystems of the facility. As an example, nuclear power plants contain many inter-related systems, subsystems, and components which were designed according to formal as well as informal standards and criteria. With so many components in such a plant, and faced with planned and unexpected maintenance, repairs, and upgrades, managers of the plant have a clear need for capturing and maintaining information about each system, subsystem and component, in an engineering database.
Such database would typically contain a multiplicity of records, each of which has a plurality of data items which are related, for example, to a particular system, subsystem, or component. The database could be set up to have a plurality of data or record tables, e.g., a table in which each valve in the plant is listed as a distinct record having associated therewith in the table, particular data items such as the type of valve, size, and functional system in which that particular valve is situated. A conventional database system would establish a relationship between the particular record associated with a particular valve in the valve data table, and a parent relationship between the valve and a particular subsystem of which it is a part, or a child relationship with sub-components of that particular valve.
The user of such database system would in some instances, want to identify and understand, for example, what particular documents, what particular requirements, and what particular assumptions were used in specifying the type or size of a particular valve listed in the valve data table. Such need may arise, for example, during the course of designing the plant, licensing the plant with regulatory agencies, determining whether original components satisfy new regulatory or other standards, or determining whether replacement components are consistent with the original design.